Out with the old!

Have you ever noticed how cheap, crap, rubbish foods tend to come in bright, colourful, attractive packs?  Whereas the organic non-perishable stuff I've been buying is very muted - Sainsbury's is all dark, mossy green, shy and retiring, almost as though they didn't want to sell it.

I was made aware of this yesterday when I decided to clear out one of my food cupboards.  This was the one in which I kept all my easily-made food - instant noodles,  sachets of pasta spirals in chemical-laden powder that with the addition of water made a bright-red sauce,  instant coucous.  I don't even like couscous ffs, but put the word "instant" anywhere on the pack and I was there.  I hate waiting for food to cook, I pathologically *loathe* being hungry.

If you don't believe me, compare and contrast the following photographs:

See what I mean?  Purple, yellow, red, blue in the bottom photo, hardly anything other than green and neutrals in the top two.  I wonder how many people buy the prettiest packs, just because they are pretty?

Anyway, that wasn't the purpose of this blog entry.  I wanted to record and report that I have cleared three full carrier bags of undesirable foodstuffs from my cupboard and given them to my mum.  It's the sort of stuff she buys anyway, in the main, so it's not like I'm reducing the quality of her diet.  I couldn't throw it away - I can't abide waste - so she was the perfect answer.

This doesn't mean that I am gong to be perfect, just that I have some cupboard space again and will be less likely to eat refined rubbish for fear of wasting it.  I've kept tins of beans, fruit, soup, jars of beansprouts, that sort of thing, and sauces.  In the main these are made from actual foodstuffs, spices, not anonymous flavourings,  and no colours.  They're not organic, but I can live with that.  I've not been on this project very long and I've already turned my diet around by a long way, so I am content with progress so far.

Best dinner yet!

Oh, that was good!  As is common, I had no idea when I went out into the kitchen what I was going to cook for myself for dinner.  But I happened upon the pack of wholegrain spelt spaghetti that I bought from Sainsbury and that decided me.

I chopped and briskly fried (in a little garlic-infused olive oil) half an organic onion and a big handful of organic button mushrooms  When almost cooked I added half an organic red pepper, sliced, half a tin of chickpeas and half a jar of commercial tomato cook-in sauce, and simmered. Meanwhile I boiled the spaghetti, then about 4 minutes before the end of cooking, I added three big leaves of organic dark spring greens cut into ribbons, to sit on top of the spaghetti and steam under the lid.  Just before serving I stirred a couple of dessertspoons of low-fat hummus into the sauce to make it creamy, and poured it over the spaghetti/greens mix.

It was *far* better than I expected.  The lemon in the hummus really zinged up the greens, which I'll have to remember because I usually use vinegar.  I would happily serve this to someone else, and there's not many things I cook that I'd say that about!

Food good, drugs bad

I gave in and went to the doctor.  It's a long tedious story, but I'm back on antibiotics for the infection on my hand.  Apparently the condition I am suffering from is Pompholyx, and the young lady who examined me that she also gets it, but she's never had it as badly as me!

I've looked on the internet and there are loads of people with it way worse than me.  It's bad enough though.  I look quite a lot as though I'm holding a palmful of raw mince.  I was determined to use the tea tree and aloe vera cure, but this morning it had spread half way up my fingers and with the weekend looming I lost my nerve.  The pain and itching has started also, and that makes life a misery.  Dear Husband is away all next week so I will have to do everything that needs doing for myself and the animals, and I can't see being able to do that with only one usable hand.  I'm gutted.  I hate taking meds.

In other news, I've been to the organic shop again and came home with apples, pears, bananas, fresh dates, greens, avocado, turnips, khol rabi, red peppers, yellow carrots all for £11.  Later on DH went to Sainsbury's and added broccoli, mushrooms and a cucumber to the organic haul.  Good of him, considering that he won't be here to eat any of it.  I'm not looking forward to his absence.

Food today was toast & peanut butter (all organic) for breakfast, soya cheese and cucumber/pickle rolls for lunch (bread and cucumber organic, the rest not) and an amazingly delicious organic apple and a few organic dates this afternoon.  Dinner was a Linda McCartney curried vegcake (not sure of the actual title) with organic jacket potato and steamed veg (yellow carrot, turnip, frozen peas and pointy cabbage - all organic except the peas).  I seasoned it with onion salt and a tsp of mint jelly and it was nicer than I was expecting.  A single square of chocolate and a couple more dates rounded off the meal.

I'm still feeling good apart from my hand, plenty of energy (for me anyway), good spirits (apart from my brush with the NHS) and optimistic about the future despite the setback to my earnings.  So overall and on balance I feel as though I'm winning.  :)

Stewday

I seem to have made rather a lot of Tuesday's stew.  I had it for lunch again yesterday (always better the next day!) and with the addition of half a carton of organic black beans, I finished it for dinner last night.  I enjoyed it, but three meals (apart from breakfast) in a row was enough.

Breakfast was toast and tofu again - I get three breakfasts from a pack of chilled Cauldron tofu and I love the contrast between the hot, crisp toast and the cool, creamy tofu.  I've always loved subtle flavours - marrow is one of my favourite veggies - so I don't find tofu bland as some people do, and anyway there's always tamari to provide a savoury sting.

Apart from that I had a small handful of walnuts, and a satsuma as snacks, and in the afternoon I lightly steamed a big bowl of oraganic pointy cabbage and seasoned it with a little balsamic vinegar and nutritional yeast.  That fulfilled my "leafy greens" promise of the day before.  Sometimes it's easier to cook up a load of the sort of veg you should be eating and have it as a snack rather than trying to incorporate it into a meal plan where is doesn't quite fit.  I just couldn't see cabbage sitting right with a bowl of bean and root veg stew.

I had a couple of squares of chocolate in the evening, and a few organic rice cakes towards bedtime.

I am conscious that I don't make the sort of effort with food that you and Simon do, Kay.  I don't enjoy cooking and I still have a lot of non-organic storecupboard things that I am reluctant to waste.  But I hope in time to develop a repertoire of whole and organic dishes that I enjoy.  In the meantime I'm fiddling around and using organic ingredients where I have them, which is a lot better than the way I was eating before.  The things I consume daily such as soya milk and bread are all organic now, apart from the teabags, of which I have quite a few left.  My starchy staples - rice, oats, pasta etc are all whole and organic.  Veggies apart from frozen or tinned are all organic, as are lentils and mung beans.  Tinned beans aren't, in the main, and I still have a fair stock to get through.  Foods that Steve cooks for me are conventional in the main, but that's usually only once a week or so.  Overall, great progress has been made in quite a short time, and I am still very keen to keep it up!

Lunch.  Could have used some parsley.

Breakfast today was tofu toast again, and lunch was roasted organic tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt and balsamic vinegar, followed by soup made from organic brown lentils, dry-roasted organic mushrooms and the other half-carton of organic black beans.  Not the most elaborate of recipes, but it involved almost no chopping and with the state of my hand that's important.

I'm on day 2 of the tea tree treatment and I would have my fingers crossed if they weren't swollen!  It's as nasty as it was last time when I finally gave in and took antibiotics, but I'm going to give it the full 4 days because I would much rather not do that again.  I felt obliged to do yesterday's 2-hour house clean, which was really a mistake and made it much worse.  But I phoned and cancelled today's after waking up to find my hand actually stuck to my nightie.  Encouragingly I don't think it's got any worse today - I've been resting it as far as possible, which is annoying as I have stacks of things to do!  The other encouraging thing is that last time it itched unbearably, but this time not so much.  I have formally given up my cleaning work for the foreseeable future.  I hope that I will get some shopping clients, but they are less common, so I may not.  Money will be tighter.

I've read that tea tree oil is best kept away from dogs and definitely cats, so I'm being very careful.

Wondering what to have for dinner now.

Later.

For dinner I ended up finishing the lunchtime soup with some Co-op instant mash.  I know, skanky or what, but at least the soup was organic.  I've also had a few seedy oatcakes (organic), some chocolate and a 1-slice sarnie with half a small avocado (organic).  A very patchy evening's eating.  I'm looking forward to cooking a proper meal again soon!


Apart from a mug or two of tea with soya milk each morning, I'm mainly drinking water.  I have the occasional mug of redbush or fruit/herbal tea, but mainly it's plain cold water.  I'm not missing sweet drinks as much as I thought I would.  Good!

Getting back on track - ish

Food diary for today.
Breakfast 2 slices organic wholemeal toast with sliced plain tofu and tamari.  Tea with organic soya milk (2 mugs).
Lunch: A tin of Sainsbury's vegetarian spag bol on a slice of organic wholemeal toast.  Today is feeling a lot like old times!
PM: Organic lemon and ginger tea.  A square of chocolate.  That may quite possibly be the first time in my life I have eaten one square and stopped.  A victory of sorts.
Dinner: Stew made with red lentils, celeriac, onion, carrot, parsnip, potatoes (all organic), tinned tomatoes, a tin of black-eyed beans, stock powder and onion salt (all non-organic) and thickened with oats and sunflower seeds (both organic), both whizzed to a powder and added a few minutes before the end of cooking.  This worked well to thicken the stew but did impart a slight grittiness to the dish which I didn't mind but I don't think Dear Husband liked.

Making the stew was murder on my hand, although I did find that if I hold the knife like a pen, there's no pressure on my palm and therefore a lot less pain and added irritation.

I am conscious that I need to go heavy on the leafy greens tomorrow to make up for not having any at all for a few days.  All the sweet fruit I have left is 2 oranges, and I am loathe to try eating anything so juicy and acidic. I'm not sure how crucial sweet fruit is.  I know it has loads of nutrients and phytochemicals, but if I don't have any for a while I don't feel that I'll suffer so long as I keep up the veg and savoury fruit intake.  I still have tomatoes, cucumber and avocado, but I think I finished my red peppers.  Do you have any strong feelings about the nightshades Kay?

Catch 22

The thing about eating healthily is - it means no longer opening a packet of something and pouring on boiling water.  Instead it means scrubbing and peeling and chopping.  When you have a bad hand you need all the nutrients available so your body can fight the infection.  But getting your hand wet and even worse, touching vegetable juices, hurts a lot and makes your hand worse.

So this evening I have eaten all that I had which didn't involve uncomfortable prep, and a very odd meal it turned out to be.  A fruit plate of a big peeled pear (the skin gives me apocalyptic indigestion), an apple (the peel of which is just fine and stayed on) and a somewhat over-ripe kiwi fruit, followed by a small avocado with vinegar and a packet of oatcakes with  pumpkin and sunflower seeds baked in.  All organic except the vinegar.

Lord alone knows what I'll eat tomorrow!